In one of those rare instances, incoming and outgoing were equal—not often that happens. Unfortunately, of course, it wasn’t an all-good news week. Wouldn’t that be loverly, though, to have a week where all intakes thrived and were releasable?

Starting with the bad news, to get it out of the way, both barred owls and the oriole required euthanasia. The coracoid fracture on the oriole didn’t heal for flight; the wing fracture on one barred didn’t heal for flight; the dislocated wing on the other barred apparently damaged nerves or tendons, making flight impossible. Some weeks just suck like that.​And late this morning, a brown-headed cowbird with no apparent injuries came in. The finders first saw it late yesterday and when it hadn’t moved this morning, they decided it needed help. It was way too calm on intake and died within three hours, without ever touching the food or water in its pen. This is the time of year people start dousing everything in sight with insecticides and pesticides, with no regard for the wildlife they kill in the process, so it’s very likely the poor bird ate something covered with one of the many toxins people use to keep their yards “beautiful.”

Honestly, cowbirds aren’t among my favorite birds. They’re parasitic nesters, meaning they lay their eggs in other, usually smaller, birds’ nests, normally one invasive egg per nest. Those birds then raise the cowbird nestling as their own, often at the expense of their own actual babies, who either starve because the larger cowbird hogs all the food or get shoved out of the nest as the larger cowbird flails around in the nest. Some birds have learned to identify cowbird eggs and will pierce them with their beaks or shove them from the nest. However, cowbirds are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), which, incidentally, celebrates its centenary this year, so I take ‘em in and work with ‘em. I just call ‘em the freeloaders of the avian world.

Once Monday’s predicted nasty weather moves through, the red shoulder will go in the flight pen, and not a moment too soon from his perspective. The red tail remains a laid-back guest and will go back in the raptor flight after the red shoulder is released. The overwintering flyers are, as you saw last week, ready to go as soon as the weather cooperates.​Last Sunday night, in the rain, a couple made the 90-minute one-way trip from their county to bring two two-to-three week old flyers to LWR. They said the tree had been down since that Friday but they didn’t discover the babies until near dark Sunday, by which time one had died. They put the two surviving babies on heat and got them to LWR late Sunday night. Upon arrival they were warm but dehydrated and hungry—and couldn’t be fed until they were rehydrated. In all the years I’ve worked with flyers, I’ve never had babies come in so hungry they were actually crying, but these wee ones were, bless their sweet little hearts.

Once they were rehydrated, they could have proper food, which quieted them down nicely.

​They continue to develop nicely, eating well and growing apace…and, of course, being impossibly adorable with every little pose they strike while sleeping…

And at the risk of sounding repetitious, please keep in mind that this is the beginning of nesting season, so don’t trim or cut trees unless absolutely necessary, and then only after checking to makes sure no nests will be disturbed or destroyed. Remember, it’s a violation of the MBTA and of state and federal law to disturb or destroy an active (with eggs or babies in it) bird nest!

…because we’re 11 days into March with no intakes, and I know all too well that means I’m about to get slammed soon…Meanwhile, it’s business as usual with the current residents of the LWR B&B.​The barred owls are still not impressing me with their flight ability, which is not boding well for their future. We’ll see how this plays out.

The oriole cannot fly. Most coracoid fractures heal for perfect flight; I can’t even remember the last time I had a bird with a coracoid fracture that wasn’t releasable. But this poor fellow isn’t. I’m giving him till the end of the week to prove me wrong, even though I know he can’t.​The red shoulder needs to be in the raptor flight now but can’t go in until the owls are out. He’s about stir-crazy, poor bird.

​The red tail should have been released by now but I wasn’t releasing a bird who didn’t seem to recognize food outside a crate, so she’ll need to go back in the raptor flight after the barreds and red shoulder have their turns.

​And the flyers got spooked by something last night and all six were out of their box, even though the light was still on, when I went in to freshen their food and water for the night. I took advantage of what will probably be the last time we’ll see all six at once to get some photos and video. (And yes, that’s duct tape over the AC vent in the photos and video—I learned the hard way years back to cover the vents during the winter when I have the flyer cage sitting in front of the AC; otherwise, I get all sorts of crud blown out when it’s first turned on for the summer—see all the stuff on the rest of the unit?)

​Songbirds are nesting now; one of our bluebird boxes has a nest with, as of today, three eggs in it—there will be more; bluebirds lay an egg a day for five or six days, rarely more. Another of the bluebird boxes has been commandeered by a chickadee—at least it looks like a chickadee nest. No eggs in it yet, though.

Above, bluebird eggs; below, two shots of chickadee nest. Bottom shot is looking down into nest--tight squeeze even for a flat phone camera!

​And why am I telling you this? To make you aware that nesting season has begun for songbirds so you can check around your own yards and know the locations of various nests. If you know where the nests are and what’s using them, you can often re-nest unnested babies, and as any rehabber will tell you, no matter how skilled we are or how much we love wild babies, it’s always best if the parents can continue to raise their young whenever possible.

It was a busy but fairly non-eventful week, which is not nearly the non sequitur it seems.​First, the red shoulder and barred owl recovering from fractures were given “flight clearance.” While the barred’s x-rays didn’t show the prettiest of calluses, after two months with his wing wrapped, it was the best we were gonna get and he was getting antsy, so vet Peggy Hobby of Smalley’s Animal Hospital and I agreed that time in the raptor flight would be the determining factor in the bird’s ultimate fate.

​The red shoulder’s x-ray showed a lovely callus on his “hand,” meaning he was also cleared for the raptor flight.

​The news wasn’t as good for the screech with the bad eye. Upon closer examination, we discovered that his eyelid had recently ruptured and the eyeball itself had actually “migrated” to the point that it was almost in his ear. The eyeball was also marble-hard. Peggy said it was trauma-induced glaucoma; we agreed—reluctantly, as we both adore screeches—that the most humane option was euthanasia, given the continued deterioration of the eye.

​The Screech Who Wouldn’t Leave finally decided it was time to go. Initially, I had my doubts, as he started out with the same reluctance he’d shown previously; however, when I cut off the camera and started to lower him back into the box, he decided he’d had enough of that, thanks very much, and hightailed it into the trees.

​While Miss Feisty the red-tail flew well in the raptor flight, she refused to eat well. Since I needed the raptor flight for the barreds, I opted to bring her sassy arse back in, where she immediately started eating well again. Go figure…I had a photo of her ready to post but Weebly is being stupid today and suddenly won't let me rotate photos. And technology was supposed to make our lives easier...yeah, right...

​With her back in, we did some fruit basket turnover and put both barreds in the raptor flight. Remember, in addition to the one recovering from a wing fracture, we had the fellow recovering from a dislocated wing. Honestly, at the moment, neither is impressing me with their flight skills, but the raptor flight is theirs for the next week. I also had a photo of Barred 1 on a perch in the raptor flight but again, after allowing me to rotate the screech photo above, the rotate function suddenly decided to elongate and pixelate my photos instead of rotating...Hey, it's free website hosting, so I can't really complain...much...about free.

​After that, the red shoulder gets his turn, which he’s quite eagerly awaiting, I assure you. I suspect his turn in the raptor flight will be more impressive from the get-go!

The oriole is showing little to no improvement in wing use. Sometimes coracoid fractures don’t heal for flight, and I’m afraid that may be what we’re seeing here. He’s got another week or so before I make a call on him.​And the flyers, with the return to cooler temps, are rarely seen outside their nest box during the day. I’m hoping conditions are favorable for their release by mid-month.

In discussions with colleagues about the emotional landscape of wildlife rehab, every now and then I’ll hear a turn of phrase that so perfectly sums up what we do that it just becomes a part of my “vocabulary”—and a point of reference for trying times. Years ago, Steve Hicks of Bubba and Friends succinctly and accurately summed up what we do: “It’s the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, sometimes within the same day.”

And this week saw me at the summit and in the valley, albeit not in the same day.

The barred owl awaiting release was taken back to his home territory by the folks who initially brought him to LWR, and they reported he wasted no time heading back into the woods.​This freed up the raptor flight for the big ol’ female red-tail, who is doing so well that she could be looking at release by the end of the week.

​The crow was ready to go, so I opened the escape hatch on the songbird flight and sat down nearby with camera trained on the opening. Took him less than five minutes to see his way out and take advantage of it, and less than five minutes later he was being checked out by a vanguard from the local murder, who decided he was “tol’able.”

Alas, the low was yet to come…

Tuesday, the same day the crow was released, a panicked call came in from a lady who’d run over a nest on the ground with a bulldozer. Mama and all sibs except one were killed; she was seeking help for that sole survivor. I couldn’t for the life of me imagine what songbird already had babies in FEBRUARY, so I asked her to send me a photo while I was trying to arrange transport.

It was a woodcock chick. And oh, he was so adorable! I’d never had a woodcock in rehab, so this was gonna be interesting!​We got transportation arranged; I set about preparing nesting, heat and food for the wee one, and when he arrived, he was hungry, active and alert, and weighed just 12g. Based on his weight and the softness of his beak, I guessed he was a recent hatchling, probably only a day or two old. While woodcocks are considered precocial birds, they don’t immediately start self-feeding upon hatching as other precocials do; Mama feeds them for the first week or so—and 90% of their diet is earthworms, which I’d laid in a supply of while he was en route, along with other soft insects and such for variety.

Because he’d missed the better portion of the day’s feedings, I stayed up till the wee hours feeding, hoping to avoid weight loss, but when I finally crashed for about four hours, he lost a gram and a half, which I managed to pack back on him during the following day. Wednesday night, I stayed up all night, offering food whenever I heard him peep, and by Thursday morning, he’d gained a gram over his intake weight. All seemed to be going well, and I was hopeful…and then Thursday afternoon, he crashed. Hard. Because he was struggling to breathe, I suspected he’d been given or fallen face-first into water and had developed aspiration pneumonia, so I started meds immediately. By around 11 that night, he was gone. Based on the blood draining from his beak after death, however, I now suspect he had a badly bruised internal organ that finally ruptured, causing him to bleed out.

And yes, it sucked, and yes, it hurt my heart to lose such a precious little one. But again, as many of my colleagues and I have discussed, the day the deaths stop hurting is the day we need to give up our permits.​The screeches are being housed together now, but the fellow found in the middle of the road is having severe eye issues. We initially didn’t think his eye was too badly damaged, but it’s not looking good now. He’ll be headed back to Smalley’s for a follow-up visit soon.

​The oriole is near-impossible to photograph; below are examples of one day’s attempts. I’m worried about that coracoid fracture, too, as he still refuses to move his left wing.

​The flyers popped their heads out briefly Friday night as I was freshening their food. The first photo was with my cell and no flash, as it was all I had handy. Even though it’s a bit fuzzy, it was too funny seeing those three little heads peering out! The second is with a proper camera and flash, but one of the rascals had gone back inside the nest box by the time I got back with the camera.

​The red shoulder and barred owl recovering from wing fractures are tentatively slated for follow-up x-rays next week, and the barred with the dislocated wing might be ready to flight-test after a follow-up vet visit, as well. Fingers crossed; I need to be “cleaning house” to get organized and make room for upcoming baby season!

​YES!!! The female red-tail who’s been recovering from a wing fracture at LWR since the end of November last year has been cleared for the raptor flight! Her x-rays show nice callusing, and both wings are perfectly level, flare beautifully evenly and flap strongly—talk about good news!

She’s a feisty lady, too, so I’m eager to get her in the raptor flight so she can build up her flight muscles and skedaddle and be a wild bird again.​But…there are currently two barred owls in the raptor flight, so she’s gotta wait juuust a bit longer. One has shown himself to be totally blind and will require euthanasia; he’s mainly there to keep the soon-to-be-released barred company. (I know, I know—they don’t really NEED company, but still…humor me, okay?)

Headed for freedom soon

Totally blind

​And in yet more good news, the crow is FINALLY in the songbird flight and doing quite well. He should be releasable within a week or so. I was honestly worried that he wouldn’t be able to fly, but he’s moving like an old pro already.

Unfortunately, we can’t have all good news all the time…​Early in the week, this gorgeous adult male red-tail came in with an old leg fracture. It was so scabbed over I couldn’t tell if I was seeing blackened ends of dead bone or layers of scabs, but it definitely looked and smelled necrotic, and he kept that foot balled and showed no neural response. X-rays confirmed he had multiple old fractures on that leg, and the scabby one was open and the ends of the bone were indeed dead. The only humane option was euthanasia.

​Then a local gas station called about a barred owl they assumed had been pulled from or fallen out of a trucker’s grille, as the owner found it in the parking lot when he went to work early that morning. A quick exam revealed a nasty wing fracture that felt open, but I couldn’t actually see the exposed end of the bone. However, x-rays confirmed that this was also an unfixable break.

Not a great photo, but sometimes "you takes what you can get."

​Late in the week, a call came in about another red-tail that the finder said appeared to have a broken leg. When he arrived with the bird, the leg felt odd at the hock but not actually broken; it did splay to the side slightly, though. X-rays showed what vet Richie Hatcher said looked like arthritis in the joint, probably trauma-induced, as this was a first-year bird—too young for age-related arthritis. So this very calm fellow is spending some time at the LWR B&B on a donut, to take the pressure off that leg while we wait and see what happens. If the arthritis is too debilitating for release, his laid-back demeanor might make him a good ed bird, but I’m hoping for release.

Left leg; see arthritic joint.

Right leg for comparison.

And in the “pending” category, we still have two barred owls, one needing follow-up x-rays on a wing fracture and one recovering from a dislocated wing; a red shoulder needing follow-up x-rays for a “hand” fracture; the six flyers, who may be released sooner than expected if our spate of early spring weather continues; the Baltimore oriole with the coracoid fracture; and two red-phase screeches, one ready to go physically if not mentally and one still having eye issues.​Meanwhile, the Great Backyard Bird Count is in full swing through tomorrow, and I hope some of y’all here in Georgia, especially, are taking advantage of the early spring weather to participate!

Y’know, I don’t intentionally invite Murphy to the party, but I suppose I do tempt him with comments like last week’s “slow week” deal…Apparently he cackled with sadistic glee as he planned out this week’s schedule for me!​To begin with, the kestrel FINALLY got his turn in the raptor flight, where he needed to stay for a week or two to rebuild his flight muscles, right? “Nooooo,” sez Mr. Kestrel. He slammed himself into the roof hard enough to knock loose the hardware cloth and took off. This is what we call a “self-release.” I would’ve preferred he utilized the raptor flight at least a week, but hey, if he can fly well enough to hit with the speed to rip the hardware cloth loose, he can fly well enough… (The damage has since been repaired.)

​Then some folks’ son found a barred owl in the road and took it to them, as he was on his way to work or something, and they called LWR. Yep, another barred owl…this one’s left wing tipped backward at a funky angle and he had a big raw spot right at the inside wrist. It wasn’t an open fracture and I couldn’t feel any “crunchiness” but it definitely looked bad. I debated euthanizing him myself but decided I really wanted to see what kind of fracture caused that funky wing angle.

​And this, boys and girls, is why it’s always a good idea to get x-rays first. As it turned out, nothing serious was broken—a small hand fracture—but apparently the wrist was dislocated, hence the odd angle. It audibly and palpably popped back into place when we stretched out the wing for x-rays, but he still needs time to rest the wing and allow it to heal. It’s now lightly wrapped to forestall movement while it heals—don’t want it popping back out of joint again!

​Hot on his heels came another screech, this one found in the middle of the road—literally. His finder said he was dead-center of the double yellow lines and offered no resistance when he stopped to pick him up. X-rays showed no fractures but he does have a swollen left eye, with dilated pupil.

​And THEN another barred owl came in—yep, looks like barreds are gonna be the number one raptor seen at LWR again this year…This fellow has a cloudy left eye but no fractures. He’s also quite feisty, even for a barred!

This Baltimore oriole had been with a mammal rehabber for over a week before arriving at LWR, so I really wasn’t hopeful we could do anything for what looked like a left shoulder fracture. He was also very sticky from not having anything but his oranges to perch on.​X-rays, however, showed a coracoid fracture—similar to a collarbone fracture in humans. These fractures don’t always show on x-rays so I was honestly rather pleased that this one did. There’s no way to wrap a coracoid fracture, so we just confine the bird to limit movement and hope it heals for proper flight. They usually do, so Mr. Oriole will spend the next month or so at the LWR B&B while he heals.

As for the long-termers, the red-tail, red shoulder, and barred owl need follow-up vet visits but there was no time with all the new intakes this week. The crow, I think, is actually ready for the flight pen. I’ve discussed him with vets Peggy Hobby and Richie Hatcher at Smalley’s and they agree that, given his perfect wing alignment and movement, it’s probably time to see what he’s capable of. The Screech Who Wouldn’t Leave is still here because it’s rained nearly every day this week, so no chance for another attempted release yet.

No new photos of the flyers this week; they’ve got just another few weeks before their release and they seem to know it, as they’re getting increasingly camera-shy!​Finally, a reminder that next weekend, Feb. 16-19, is the Great Backyard Bird Count. It’s free, easy, and fun—and there are mobile apps for both Android devices and iPhones, or you can keep your own list. You can participate every day or for just 15 minutes—this is truly the most flexible of the official bird counts out there. For info on getting started, click on this link: http://gbbc.birdcount.org/get-started/.

Wildlife rehab is unpredictable; one week may be insanely busy with new intakes, and the next week you’re taking care of only those “pending” cases awaiting release. Of course, during baby season, all bets are off; there are NO slow weeks. This, however, was one of the slower weeks, with no new intakes and only 13 pendings to care for.​Beginning with last week’s two birds awaiting vet visits, the barred owl with the cloudy eye had no fractures; the right wing I was worried about showed clear on x-rays. He’s antsy, and I don’t think the eye will cause any long-term problems for him, so he’s slated for release next week.

​The young red-tail wasn’t as lucky, however. His x-rays revealed a nasty, unfixable fracture right at the elbow, and it’d already started forming a callus, so he’d been down a while—which would explain his extreme thinness and eager devouring of his food. Sometimes the only consolation is that the bird didn’t die hungry…

​One screech left like she was launched from a rocket, with no time for video or photos; the other—well, see for yourself:

​After 10 minutes of this nonsense, I gave up and he came back home with me, where he awaits another release attempt next week. Rotten rascal…

​The barred owl, red-tail, red shoulder and crow continue to recuperate nicely and are all due for follow-up vet visits shortly to see how things stand.

​The kestrel is still not in the raptor flight. Kestrels don’t handle cold weather well, and it was just too chilly this week to risk it. Next week’s temps look promising for him to finally get his flight time, though.

​And the flyers have pretty much stayed holed up in their cozy nest box this week, at least until after lights-out.

​Now for some interesting stats for you, compiled while I was finishing my federal annual report near the end of January (still working on state; it’s more detailed):

The top two raptor species LWR saw in 2017 were—surprise on this one, right?—barred owls (37) and red shouldered hawks (20).

The top two songbird species we saw—and neither of these should be surprising—were Carolina wrens (26) and mockingbirds (19).

LWR saw 13 raptor species, 36 songbird species, and 5 waterfowl species in 2017. These, along with the flyers, totaled 312 intakes for the year.

Of the people who brought wildlife to LWR in 2017, only 23 donated toward their care—that’s just 7%.

It was a rather chaotic week, between intakes, vet visits, releases and just plain general “guest” maintenance.​The great blue heron that was en route last week exhibited neurological symptoms upon arrival, perhaps from lead poisoning or maybe rodenticide. We’ll never know, as the poor bird died overnight, and the one source of necropsies in the state doesn’t provide even one measly free annual necropsy to rehabbers—and quite frankly, I can’t justify the expense of a necropsy to satisfy my own curiosity. That’s money taken from feeding live birds, so the better option seems to me to be to focus on the living. They can be helped; the dead can’t.

​Hot on the heels of the heron came a youngish turkey vulture—the younger birds tend to have less of the fungusy, poxy-looking stuff on their faces. He didn’t seem to have any wing or leg fractures but refused to stand. Turkey vultures are quite shy, though, so I wasn’t sure whether his not standing was due to shyness or actual injury. I had to wait two days to take him in for a vet visit, though, as his finder had apparently fed him half the contents of her refrigerator, based on her list on the intake form—and vultures digest their food veeeeerrrry slowly…and they stress-puke effortlessly. And it stinks. I’d rather smell skunk spray. Really.

​However, once he’d had time to digest his banquet, it was off to Smalley’s for him, where x-rays showed an old .22 pellet and newer birdshot. Most of the birdshot was lodged in his wing feathers; one piece was lodged in the flesh of his leg. When I explained to vet Richie Hatcher that the vulture seemed unwilling or unable to stand but that it could be just his innate shyness, Richie put a towel on the floor, I sat the bird on it, and he stood up and made a beeline for the corner of the room. Given that his injuries were minor and he could obviously walk with no problems, we agreed he was releasable, which I did that very afternoon.

​Along with the vulture release, the two barred owls from last week who were awaiting x-rays on Monday were also released, as their x-rays showed no fractures.

​Screech 2’s x-rays on Monday also showed no fractures, but he and Screech 1 had to wait until the end of the week for their turn in the raptor flight—had to get the barreds in and out first.

​Once the screeches were in the raptor flight, the goal became to release them both Monday, as we had pretty firm rain predictions for the weekend (it’s raining as I type, in fact).

​The same day the turkey vulture had his vet visit, another barred owl accompanied him. The owl had been spotted in the finder’s workplace yard, where he hopped from the ground to a car hood to a tree branch and back to the ground but didn’t attempt to fly away when the finder approached him. An intake exam showed no fractures, so I really thought he just had a mild concussion. Still, x-rays are always a good idea. The x-rays showed no fractures; the only physical problem we could find was the beginnings of a cataract on his right eye, which vets Richie Hatcher and Jim Hobby both examined. So again, we had a releasable bird, as he was alert, aggressive and had no fractures. Great!

So I didn’t even take the boxes containing the vulture and barred owl out of the car when I got home from the clinic; I ran to the raptor flight and loaded up the weekend barreds for their release, excited to have FOUR releases to report this week…​…And when I opened the cataract barred’s box, he was stone cold. In the 30 minutes it took me to drive home, pick up the other two birds and drive to the release site, he’d died. NOT the outcome any of us expected but internal soft tissue injuries, like a slow bleed, don’t show on x-rays, so it’s not the first time I’ve had a bird die after x-rays showed nothing—and it won’t be the last. It ain’t pleasant but it’s the harsh reality of wildlife rehab.​Friday a gorgeous first-year male red-tail came in with a left wing fracture, but it’s kinda odd. His wing droops from the shoulder but the fracture feels like it’s in the wrist—and he has a bloody scrape on the back of that wing close to the elbow. Gonna definitely take x-rays to figure this one out!

​And would you believe yet ANOTHER barred owl came in yesterday morning? Nothing initially felt broken, although he does seem to be favoring his left wing today. He did, however, have fresh blood in his right eye on intake; today the bleeding has stopped but the eye is now very cloudy. Obviously, he’ll make the trip with the red-tail to see what x-rays show on both birds.

As for the long-termers, the poor kestrel must think he’s never gonna see the inside of the raptor flight, but as soon as the screeches are out, he’s in. The female red-tail, the red shoulder, and the barred owl all continue to recuperate, as does the crow.​And the flyers had to be moved to new digs last week, as they finally succeeded in busting out the side of their old pen with their nocturnal shenanigans, resulting in three escapees. It took two nights to reunite the entire group!

While it’s not unusual to have a multitude of songbirds during baby season, they’re small and don’t take up a whole lot of space. No, it’s the raptors who create space issues, and never more so than during the winter, when more adult raptors than normal seem to end up in rehab because of run-ins with vehicles.

And boy, did the owls in particular have a rough week this week…

Early in the week, a red-phase screech owl came in after being found in the road. X-rays and an exam at Smalley’s Animal Hospital confirmed that he had no fractures, just a really bad headache and possibly a bruised wing.

Look at that eyeball--you can even see the eyelids!

​Later in the week, another screech came in, also a red-phase, also found in the road, and also suffering from a massive concussion.

​And two barred owls also came in, both found in or near the road.

And now you’re asking, “What is it with these birds hunting near roads?” Well, we have sloppy, sorry, trashy humans to thank for that: people toss out their trash—apple cores and food wrappers and such—and rodents feast on the refuse. Wherever rodents cluster, they’ll attract predators. Diurnal raptors, i.e., hawks, are easier to spot but can still be hit by cars as they chase prey across a road or attempt to fly away with struggling prey in their talons. Nocturnal raptors, i.e., owls, are harder to spot, seeming to come from nowhere right into the path of the car in pursuit of their supper. Honestly, most often in car v. raptor, the raptor loses—in a big way. These four birds were lucky in that all seem to have only concussions. Barred 1 does have some lingering blood in his left eye, consistent with a concussion, and the other just looks to have a concussion, but they’ll both have vet exams next week, as will Screech 2, to make sure we don’t have luxated lenses or detached retinas; right now, however, all looks promising for all four owls to be released in short order.

As for the “old-timers,” the red-tail, red-shoulder and barred owl recovering from wing fractures are all alert, active and getting close to time for follow-up exams to determine how much, if any, healing has occurred. The crow also continues to do well, and the kestrel’s transfer to the raptor flight was delayed by lingering cold weather this week. Temps are supposed to be more seasonal and moderate next week, so after the screech and barred quartet has been flight-tested (no, not all four at once; barreds will happily EAT screeches!)—and possibly released—the kestrel will take up residence in the raptor flight to regain his strength and, we hope, his flight capability. No new photos of the old-timers this week; I mean, how many different ways can you photograph a bird in a box?

And just a while ago, a call came in about another great blue heron, which is en route as I work on this update—more on him next week.​The flyers are cute as ever—no photos of them this week; instead, a video of one of the little rascals eating and checking out the camera!

Actually, “not a great week” is a bit of an understatement, to be honest. It was a pretty horrific week.​The week got off to a bad start when, on Sunday night, an adult male red shoulder came in with an open wing fracture and a shattered leg. This wasn’t an injury that required x-rays, as the bone was clearly exposed and there was no nerve response in the leg, so I ended his suffering that night.

​The kestrel did at least receive good news; his wing has callused nicely and he has “flight clearance” as soon as the weather cooperates. I don’t put kestrels outside in extreme temps and we’re in for another of those weeks, so he’s inside for the next week.

​It was mixed news on the crow. The corneal ulcer has finally healed but the wing fracture, after six weeks, shows no signs of even beginning to callus. Not good. Vet Richie Hatcher at Smalley’s Animal Hospital says they generally give mammals three months before saying it’s a non-union (i.e., non-healing) fracture, so we’re giving the crow the same length of time. But we both know it’s probably not going to heal, not if it’s showing no signs at this point. Still, as Richie likes to say, “You can always euthanize later but once it’s done you can’t take it back.”

​An adult great blue heron came in late in the week, found by the roadside. His right leg felt broken in or near the joint, and x-rays the next day confirmed that the fracture, an old one, had begun to heal, despite the bird’s inability to stand. Given the odd angle of his hock (ankle), which wasn’t broken, vet Jim Hobby and I guessed that he’d been able to stand by putting most of his weight on the good leg for a while and that initial cold snap we had was the final nail in his coffin, poor bird. There was no nerve response in his leg and given the severity of the break and the fact that it had started healing badly, we had no humane option outside euthanasia.

​And, as if all this wasn’t bad enough, the young barnie, who’d been in the flight pen since before Christmas, managed to break his wing right at the shoulder. I’d just been in the raptor flight to put out his food for the night, and he flew to the opposite end while I was doing so. I walked out, latched the door, and was freshening up bird feeders and baths when I heard him scream, not more than five minutes after I’d walked out. He didn’t stop screaming, and it didn’t sound like the normal barnie scream, so I ran back over, and when I opened the flight door, he was thrashing on the ground about midway the pen, screaming nonstop and unable to get up. It was immediately obvious his right wing was broken. I brought him back inside to wait till morning to get x-rays to confirm what I already knew, and during the night, after the pain meds wore off, he began gnawing at his elbow because of the pain. X-rays the next morning confirmed that the break was unfixable; he required euthanasia. The video below was taken when I started to box him up to bring in overnight; you can see the odd angle of the right wing and hear his pain.

My best guess is that he might have had some sort of epileptic-style seizure while flying toward his food, causing him to crash and pin that wing in such a way that it snapped. Given the way he was thrashing about helplessly when I opened the flight door, it seems a logical assumption. And it sucks. There’s just nothing else to be said. It sucks.​The red-tail, barred owl and red shoulder recovering from wing fractures are all—what is it the hospitals say?—stable, that’s it. They’re eating well and alert.

​And the flyers, of course, are as busy as they can be when the lights go off.